Abstract:

A reproducing medium and apparatus to help guarantee reproduction
compatibility are provided. An information storage medium to be
reproduced by the reproducing apparatus includes audio/video (AV) data,
an interactive content used to perform interactions with users, and
interactive content management information used to manage the interactive
content, wherein the interactive content management information includes
information regarding an application to be executed by the reproducing
apparatus and information regarding a substitution application
substituted for the application.

Claims:

1. An information storage medium which is to be reproduced by a
reproducing apparatus, comprising:AV (audio/video) data;an interactive
content used to perform interactions with a user; andinteractive content
management information used to manage the interactive content,wherein the
interactive content management information includes information regarding
an application to be executed by the reproducing apparatus and
information regarding a substitution application to substitute for the
application.

2. The information storage medium of claim 1, wherein the information
regarding the application includes required performance grade information
regarding a performance of a reproducing apparatus required to execute
the application and position information regarding the application.

3. The information storage medium of claim 2, wherein the substitution
application is an application which is substituted for the application in
response to the reproducing apparatus not satisfying the reproducing
apparatus performance required from the required performance grade
information.

4. The information storage medium of claim 1, wherein the information
regarding the substitution application includes existence information
regarding the substitution application and position information regarding
the substitution application.

5. A reproducing apparatus to reproduce an information storage medium
storing AV data, comprising:a reader reading the AV data, an interactive
content used to perform interactions with a user, and interactive content
management information used to manage the interactive content from the
information storage medium; anda reproducing unit obtaining information
regarding an application to be executed by the reproducing apparatus and
information regarding a substitution application to substitute the
application from the interactive content management information and to
reproduce the application with reference to information regarding the
application and information regarding the substitution application.

6. The reproducing apparatus of claim 5, wherein the information regarding
the application includes required performance grade information regarding
a performance of a reproducing apparatus required to execute the
application and position information regarding the application.

7. The reproducing apparatus of claim 6, wherein the reproducing apparatus
reproduces the substitution application with reference to the information
on the substitution application in response to the reproducing apparatus
not satisfying the reproducing apparatus performance required from the
required performance grade information.

8. The reproducing apparatus of claim 7, wherein the information regarding
the substitution application includes existence information regarding the
substitution application and position information regarding the
substitution application.

9. The reproducing apparatus of claim 8, wherein, in response to checking
that the substitution application does not exist from the existence
information regarding the substitution application, the reproducing unit
reproduces a resident substitution application stored in the reproducing
apparatus.

10. The reproducing apparatus of claim 9, wherein the resident
substitution application includes a warning content to inform the user of
a problem of content reproduction.

11. A reproducing method of reproducing an information storage medium
storing AV data performed by a reproducing apparatus, comprising:reading
the AV data, an interactive content used to perform interactions with a
user, and interactive content management information used to manage the
interactive content from the information storage medium; andobtaining
information on an application to be executed by the reproducing apparatus
and information regarding a substitution application to substitute for
the application from the interactive content management information and
reproducing the application with reference to information regarding the
application and information regarding the substitution application.

12. The reproducing method of claim 11, wherein the information regarding
the application includes required performance grade information regarding
a performance of a reproducing apparatus required to execute the
application and position information regarding the application.

13. The reproducing method of claim 12, wherein the reproducing comprises
reproducing the substitution application with reference to the
information regarding the substitution application in response to the
reproducing apparatus not satisfying the reproducing apparatus
performance required from the required performance grade information.

14. The reproducing method of claim 13, wherein the information regarding
the substitution application includes existence information regarding the
substitution application and position information regarding the
substitution application.

15. The reproducing method of claim 14, wherein the reproducing comprises
reproducing a resident substitution application stored in the reproducing
apparatus in response to checking that the substitution application does
not exist from the existence information regarding the substitution
application.

16. The reproducing method of claim 15, wherein the resident substitution
application includes a warning content to inform the user of a problem of
content reproduction.

Description:

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001]This application is a continuation of and claims the benefit under
35 U.S.C. §119 of a PCT Patent Application No. PCT/KR2008/001814,
filed on Apr. 1, 2008, which claims benefit of a Korean Patent
Application No. 10-2007-0081446, filed on Aug. 13, 2007, and a Korean
Patent Application No. 10-2007-0129085, filed on Dec. 12, 2007, the
entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference for all
purposes.

BACKGROUND

[0002]1. Field

[0003]The following description relates to an information storage medium,
a reproducing apparatus, and a reproducing method thereof. More
specifically, the following description relates to a reproduction method
of guaranteeing reproduction compatibility according to interactive
content required performance grades.

[0004]2. Description of the Related Art

[0005]In a conventional optical disc which stores an AV stream to
reproduce a movie on a screen, program based or markup language based
interactive contents may further be stored in addition to the AV stream
in order to improve interactions with a user.

[0006]Accordingly, a maximum quality of the AV stream is determined in
advance according to a type of data stored in the optical disc and an AV
application standard defined in a reproducing apparatus to reproduce the
data. In addition, the reproducing apparatus typically follows a target
decoder model proposed by the AV application standard in order to
reproduce the AV stream. Therefore, the AV stream can be reproduced by
any apparatus.

[0007]However, unlike the AV stream, the interactive contents added to
improve interaction with the user may by generated as various types of
results according to an ability of a content producer, requirements, or
the like, so that the maximum quality of the interactive contents is not
limited. Therefore, in the AV application standard including the
interactive contents, various grades are defined according to a
performance of the reproducing apparatus such as a processing speed of a
central processing unit (CPU), a memory capacity, a data input and/or
output speed of an added storage medium, and the like so as to enable the
content producer to produce the interactive contents in consideration of
a performance grade of the reproducing apparatus.

[0008]As described above, reproducing apparatuses may be defined by
different grades according to the processing speed of the CPU, the memory
capacity, the data input and/or output speed of the added storage medium,
and the like. Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional high-performance
reproducing apparatus 110 and a low-performance reproducing apparatus 120
are illustrated.

[0009]As illustrated in FIG. 1, the reproducing apparatuses 110 and 120
may be classified into reproducing apparatuses to reproduce a
low-performance application along with an AV stream and reproducing
apparatuses capable of further reproducing a high-performance
application. Accordingly, the content producer may produce only the
low-performance application along with the AV stream, or further produce
the high-performance application to produce the optical disc.

[0010]Referring to FIG. 1, the high-performance application reproducible
AV stream reproducing apparatus 110 can reproduce a disc 2 130 including
a high-performance application included title 132 along with an AV stream
title 131 and a disc 1 140 including a low-performance application
included title 142 along with an AV stream title 141. However, a
low-performance application reproducible AV stream reproducing apparatus
120 can reproduce all the titles of the disc 1 140 but cannot properly
reproduce a part of the titles of the disc 2 130, that is, the
high-performance application included title 132.

[0011]As described above, the content producer may produce different
grades of optical discs according to performances of the reproducing
apparatuses. However, where a user having the low-performance reproducing
apparatus attempts to insert therein a high-performance optical disc
without the aforementioned information, there is a problem in that the
user cannot be provided with all titles produced by the content producer.

SUMMARY

[0012]In one general aspect, there is provided an information storage
medium which is to be reproduced by a reproducing apparatus, including AV
(audio/video) data, an interactive content used to perform interactions
with a user, and interactive content management information used to
manage the interactive content, wherein the interactive content
management information includes information regarding an application to
be executed by the reproducing apparatus and information regarding a
substitution application to substitute for the application.

[0013]The information regarding the application may include required
performance grade information regarding a performance of a reproducing
apparatus required to execute the application and position information
regarding the application.

[0014]The substitution application may be an application which is
substituted for the application in response to the reproducing apparatus
not satisfying the reproducing apparatus performance required from the
required performance grade information.

[0015]The information regarding the substitution application may include
existence information regarding the substitution application and position
information regarding the substitution application.

[0016]In another general aspect, there is provided a reproducing apparatus
to reproduce an information storage medium storing AV data, including a
reader reading the AV data, an interactive content used to perform
interactions with a user, and interactive content management information
used to manage the interactive content from the information storage
medium, and a reproducing unit obtaining information regarding an
application to be executed by the reproducing apparatus and information
regarding a substitution application to substitute the application from
the interactive content management information and to reproduce the
application with reference to information regarding the application and
information regarding the substitution application.

[0017]The information regarding the application may include required
performance grade information regarding a performance of a reproducing
apparatus required to execute the application and position information
regarding the application.

[0018]The reproducing apparatus may reproduce the substitution application
with reference to the information on the substitution application in
response to the reproducing apparatus not satisfying the reproducing
apparatus performance required from the required performance grade
information.

[0019]The information regarding the substitution application may include
existence information regarding the substitution application and position
information regarding the substitution application.

[0020]In response to checking that the substitution application does not
exist from the existence information regarding the substitution
application, the reproducing unit may reproduce a resident substitution
application stored in the reproducing apparatus.

[0021]The resident substitution application may include a warning content
to inform the user of a problem of content reproduction.

[0022]In another general aspect, there is provided a reproducing method of
reproducing an information storage medium storing AV data performed by a
reproducing apparatus, including reading the AV data, an interactive
content used to perform interactions with a user, and interactive content
management information used to manage the interactive content from the
information storage medium, and obtaining information on an application
to be executed by the reproducing apparatus and information regarding a
substitution application to substitute for the application from the
interactive content management information and reproducing the
application with reference to information regarding the application and
information regarding the substitution application.

[0023]The information regarding the application may include required
performance grade information regarding a performance of a reproducing
apparatus required to execute the application and position information
regarding the application.

[0024]The reproducing may include reproducing the substitution application
with reference to the information regarding the substitution application
in response to the reproducing apparatus not satisfying the reproducing
apparatus performance required from the required performance grade
information.

[0025]The information regarding the substitution application may include
existence information regarding the substitution application and position
information regarding the substitution application.

[0026]The reproducing may include reproducing a resident substitution
application stored in the reproducing apparatus in response to checking
that the substitution application does not exist from the existence
information regarding the substitution application.

[0027]The resident substitution application may include a warning content
to inform the user of a problem of content reproduction.

[0028]Other features and aspects will be apparent from the following
detailed description, the drawings, and the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029]FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a conventional disc which can be
reproduced by a high-performance reproducing apparatus and a
low-performance reproducing apparatus.

[0034]FIG. 6 illustrates an example of an interactive content management
information where a plurality of applications exist.

[0035]FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a reproducing
apparatus.

[0036]FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a reproducing
method.

[0037]FIG. 9 is a flowchart further illustrating the reproducing method
illustrated in FIG. 8.

[0038]FIGS. 10A through 10C are diagrams illustrating an example of a
screen to execute a substitution application.

[0039]Throughout the drawings and the detailed description, unless
otherwise described, the same drawing reference numerals will be
understood to refer to the same elements, features, and structures. The
relative size and depiction of these elements may be exaggerated for
clarity, illustration, and convenience.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0040]The following detailed description is provided to assist the reader
in gaining a comprehensive understanding of the methods, apparatuses
and/or systems described herein. Various changes, modifications, and
equivalents of the systems, apparatuses and/or methods described herein
will suggest themselves to those of ordinary skill in the art.
Descriptions of well-known functions and constructions may be omitted for
increased clarity and conciseness.

[0043]The AV stream 210 may include AV data including audio and/or video
data such as a movie title.

[0044]The interactive content 220 may include data to improve interactions
between a user and the information storage medium 200 while the AV stream
title is reproduced and may include various applications. Examples of the
application may include an application to show a caption of a director
corresponding to a scene that is being reproduced, an application to show
additional information on a region in a scene that is being reproduced,
and an application to show additional information on an actor in a scene
that is being reproduced.

[0045]In addition, the interactive content 220 may further include a
substitution application substituted for the application where the
application added to a predetermined title cannot be executed.

[0046]In the information storage medium 200, the AV stream 210 may include
one or more titles, and each title may be a title to reproduce only the
AV stream or a title provided with an interactive content in addition to
the AV stream. The interactive content management information 230 is
information to manage the interactive content 220 and defines information
on program or markup language based applications to reproduce interactive
content titles. Where the information storage medium 200 includes a
plurality of applications, the information storage medium 200 may include
interactive content management information 230 corresponding to each of
the applications.

[0047]The interactive content management information 230 may include
information on the substitution application.

[0048]Also, the information storage medium 200 may communicate with a
reproducing apparatus 250 which reproduces a corresponding application.

[0049]FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a detailed structure of the
interactive content management information 230.

[0050]Referring to FIG. 3, the interactive content management information
230 includes application information 310 and substitution application
information 320. The application information 310 may include information
to manage the applications included in the interactive content 220, and
the substitution application information 320 may include information
regarding the substitution application substituted for a corresponding
application.

[0051]FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a detailed structure of the
application associated information 310 illustrated in FIG. 3.

[0052]Referring to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, the application information 310
includes required performance grade information 311 and application
position information 312. The required performance grade information 311
may include information regarding a performance of the reproducing
apparatus 250 which reproduces the corresponding application, and the
application position information 312 may include information regarding a
position where a corresponding application is recorded in the information
storage medium 200.

[0053]Required performance grades described in the required performance
grade information 311 may be explained as follows. A grade at which only
a movie title can be reproduced but other application titles cannot be
reproduced may be known as a grade A, a grade at which a picture in
picture (PIP) function and downloading a few pieces of image data are
supported in addition to movie title reproduction may be known as a grade
B, and a grade at which downloading the entire movie title is supported
in addition to the functions supported at the grade B may be known as a
grade C.

[0054]Where the reproducing apparatus 250 is to reproduce an application,
the reproducing apparatus 250 compares a performance of the reproducing
apparatus 250 with the required performance grade information 311 stored
in the information storage medium 200, and where the performance of the
reproducing apparatus 250 satisfies a performance required from the
required performance grade information 311, the reproducing apparatus 250
reads the application from a position indicated by the application
position information 312 and reproduces the corresponding application.
For example, where the performance of the reproducing apparatus 250 is
set to the grade A and the required performance grade information 311 of
a particular application stored in the information storage medium 200
represents the grade B, the performance of the reproducing apparatus 250
does not satisfy the performance required from the required performance
grade information 311, so that the reproducing apparatus 250 determines
that the particular application cannot be executed.

[0055]FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a detailed structure of the
substitution application information 320 illustrated in FIG. 3.

[0057]The substitution application existence information 321 may represent
whether a substitution application that can be substituted for a
corresponding application is stored in the information storage medium
200, and the substitution application position information 322 may
indicate a position where the substitution application is stored in the
information storage medium 200 where the substitution application exists.
For example, where the reproducing apparatus 250 is to reproduce an
application, the performance of the reproducing apparatus 250 is compared
with the required performance grade information 311 stored in the
information storage medium 200. Where the performance of the reproducing
apparatus 250 satisfies the performance required from the required
performance grade information 311, the reproducing apparatus 250 reads
the application from the position indicated by the application position
information to reproduce the corresponding application. However, where
the performance of the reproducing apparatus 250 does not satisfy the
performance required from the required performance grade information 311,
the corresponding application cannot be reproduced. Therefore, it is
verified whether a substitution application is stored in the information
storage medium 200 with reference to the substitution application
existence information 321. Where the substitution application exists, the
reproducing apparatus 250 reads the substitution application from a
position indicated by the substitution application position information
322 and reproduces the substitution application.

[0058]FIG. 6 illustrates an example of an interactive content management
information 600 where a plurality of applications exist.

[0059]Referring to FIGS. 2, 3 and 6, the information storage medium 200
stores first to N-th applications as the interactive content 220, and
stores information to manage each of the N applications as the
interactive content management information 230. Specifically, information
610 to manage the first application includes required performance grade
information 311 which represents performance information regarding the
reproducing apparatus 250 which reproduces the first application,
application position information 312 which indicates a position where the
first application is stored, substitution application existence
information 321 which represents whether a substitution application that
is substituted where the reproducing apparatus 250 does not satisfy the
performance condition to reproduce the first application is stored in the
information storage medium 200, and substitution application position
information 322 which indicates a position of the substitution
application where the substitution application substituted for the first
application is stored. Similarly, information 620 to manage the N-th
application includes required performance grade information 311 which
represents performance information on the reproducing apparatus 250
required to reproduce the N-th application, application position
information 312 which indicates a position where the N-th application is
stored, substitution application existence information 321 which
represents whether a substitution application that is substituted where
the reproducing apparatus 250 does not satisfy the performance condition
to reproduce the first application is stored in the information storage
medium 200, and substitution application position information 322 which
indicates a position of the substitution application where the
substitution application substituted for the first application is stored.

[0060]FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a reproducing apparatus 700.

[0061]Referring to FIGS. 2 and 7, the reproducing apparatus 700 includes a
reader 710 and a reproducing unit 720.

[0062]The reader 710 reads AV data, an interactive content, and
interactive management information from the information storage medium
200 so as to be transmitted to the reproducing unit 720.

[0063]The reproducing unit 720 receives the AV data, the interactive
content, and the interactive content management information through the
reader 710 and reproduces the received AV data and the interactive
content. Particularly, the reproducing unit 720 obtains information
regarding an application to be executed by the reproducing apparatus 700
and information regarding a substitution application substituted for the
application from the interactive content management information and
reproduces the application with reference to the information on the
application and the information regarding the substitution application.

[0064]More specifically, the reproducing unit 720 includes a system
manager 730, an interactive content decoder 740, and a presentation
engine 760, and may also include a storage space to store a resident
substitution application.

[0065]The system manager 730 controls the interactive content decoder 740
according to title information and processes a user input.

[0066]The interactive content decoder 740 controls the presentation engine
760 according to an application programming interface (API) to perform AV
stream reproduction control and executes an application needed to
reproduce a corresponding title. According to FIGS. 2, 3, 4 and 7, where
the interactive content decoder 740 is to reproduce a title added to an
application, the interactive content decoder 740 compares information on
the corresponding application, that is, the required performance grade
information 311 with information on a performance grade stored in the
system register 770 to determine whether the reproducing apparatus 700
satisfies the required performance to reproduce the corresponding
application. According to a result of the determining, where the
reproducing apparatus 700 satisfies the required performance, the
interactive content decoder 740 reads and reproduces the corresponding
application from the information storage medium 200, and otherwise, the
interactive content decoder 740 determines whether a substitution
application exists in the information storage medium 200 with reference
to the substitution application existence information 321. According to a
result of the determining, where the application exists in the
information storage medium 200, the substitution application is read to
be reproduced. According to the result of the determining, where the
substitution application does not exist in the information storage medium
200, it is checked whether a resident substitution application exists in
the reproducing apparatus 700. Where the resident substitution
application exists, the corresponding resident substitution application
may be executed.

[0067]As described above, according to FIGS. 2, 3, 4, and 7, the
reproducing apparatus 700 further includes the resident substitution
application 750 substituted for a high-performance application where the
interactive content decoder 740 or the additional storage has to
reproduce information storage medium 200 including the high-performance
application that cannot be reproduced by the corresponding reproducing
apparatus 700. An example of the resident substitution application 750
may be a warning content which informs users of a problem of reproduction
of a part of contents. However, the resident substitution application
750is not limited thereto, but may be modified in any type of
application.

[0068]The presentation engine 760 includes an audio/video decoder to
reproduce the AV stream, and the system register 770 includes information
on the performance grade of the corresponding reproducing apparatus 700.
In addition, the presentation engine 760 may further include various
decoders to decode and reproduce additional data included in the
information storage medium 200 such as a subtitle decoder and a menu
decoder.

[0069]FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a reproducing method.

[0070]Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8, the reader 710 of the reproducing
apparatus 700 reads the AV data, an interactive content used to perform
interactions with users, and interactive content management information
used to manage the interactive content from information storage medium at
810.

[0071]At 820, the reproducing unit 720 obtains information on an
application to be executed by the reproducing apparatus 700 and
information on a substitution application substituted for the application
from the interactive content management information and reproduces the
application with reference to the information on the application and the
information on the substitution application.

[0073]Referring to FIGS. 2 and 7 through 9, a disc that represents the
information storage medium 200 is inserted into the reproducing apparatus
700 at 910. The reproducing apparatus 700 analyzes title information and
determines whether a title to be currently reproduced includes an
interactive content at 930.

[0074]Where the interactive content is not included, the title is
reproduced at 960, and the operation is terminated.

[0075]When the interactive content is included, it is determined whether a
required performance grade of an application included in the title is
higher than a performance grade defined in the system register 770 of the
reproducing apparatus 700 at 940.

[0076]According to a result of the determining, where the required
performance grade of the application included in the title is not higher
than the performance grade defined in the system register 770, the title
and the application included in the title are reproduced at 960, and the
operation is terminated.

[0077]According to the result of the determining, where the required
performance grade of the application included in the title is not higher
than the performance grade defined in the system register 770, it is
checked whether a substitution application exists by substitution
application existence information.

[0078]According to a result of the checking, where the substitution
application does not exist in the disc, a resident substitution
application 750 stored in the reproducing apparatus 700 is reproduced at
970.

[0079]According to the result of the checking, where the substitution
application exists in the disc, the substitution application stored in
the disc is reproduced with reference to substitution application
position information at 980.

[0080]FIGS. 10A through 10C are views illustrating an example of a screen
to execute the substitution application.

[0081]Referring to FIG. 10A, AV data 1010 is reproduced on a screen 1000
of a display apparatus connected to the reproducing apparatus, and an
icon 1020 used to start execution of an application associated with the
AV data that is being reproduced is provided at a lower right portion of
the screen 1000. Where the user selects the icon 1020 by using an input
device or the like to execute the application, the reproducing apparatus
determines whether the corresponding application is to be reproduced with
reference to information on the application.

[0082]Where it is determined that the reproducing apparatus satisfies a
performance of a reproducing apparatus corresponding to the corresponding
application, the reproducing apparatus reads the corresponding
application and reproduces the screen 1000. Referring to FIG. 10B, for
example, an application 1030 that is being reproduced shows a director
who explains the AV data that is being reproduced as a PIP type.

[0083]Where the current reproducing apparatus does not satisfy the
performance of the reproducing apparatus corresponding to the
corresponding apparatus, the reproducing apparatus checks whether a
substitution application substituted for the corresponding application
exists in an information storage medium, and where the substitution
application exists, the reproducing apparatus executes the substitution
application on the screen. However, where the substitution application
does not exist in the information storage medium and a substitution
application stored in the reproducing apparatus exists, the reproducing
apparatus executes the stored substitution application. For example, the
substitution application may be an application 1040 to output a warning
message that "Sorry, this application content cannot be reproduced" as
illustrated in FIG. 10C.

[0084]Accordingly, by defining the substitution application, a problem of
reproduction due to the performance grade of the reproducing apparatus
can be decreased, and the preparation of an interactive content requiring
a higher performance is possible.

[0085]The processes, functions, methods and/or software described above
may be recorded, stored, or fixed in one or more computer-readable
storage media that includes program instructions to be implemented by a
computer to cause a processor to execute or perform the program
instructions. The media may also include, alone or in combination with
the program instructions, data files, data structures, and the like. The
media and program instructions may be those specially designed and
constructed, or they may be of the kind well-known and available to those
having skill in the computer software arts. Examples of computer-readable
media include magnetic media, such as hard disks, floppy disks, and
magnetic tape; optical media such as CD ROM disks and DVDs;
magneto-optical media, such as optical disks; and hardware devices that
are specially configured to store and perform program instructions, such
as read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), flash memory, and
the like. Examples of program instructions include machine code, such as
produced by a compiler, and files containing higher level code that may
be executed by the computer using an interpreter. The described hardware
devices may be configured to act as one or more software modules in order
to perform the operations and methods described above, or vice versa. In
addition, a computer-readable storage medium may be distributed among
computer systems connected through a network and computer-readable codes
or program instructions may be stored and executed in a decentralized
manner.

[0086]Also, the exemplary embodiments described above may be applied where
contents included in the reproducing apparatus and the optical disc are
changed according to a profile such as BD-JAVA of a BD-ROM player.

[0087]The above-described certain exemplary embodiments provide an
information storage medium, a reproducing apparatus, and a reproducing
method capable of reducing user inconveniences in consideration of cases
where not all of titles provided by a content producer are executed
according to a performance of the reproducing apparatus.

[0088]As stated above, a low-performance reproducing apparatus may not
reproduce a part of titles or any title of a high-performance optical
disc due to a performance of the reproducing apparatus. Accordingly,
according to certain examples described above, where interactive contents
are included in the optical disc, in addition to performance information
required by an application, a substitution application may be
additionally produced for a reproducing apparatus that cannot satisfy
corresponding required performance information. In order to apply this,
substitution application existence information and substitution
application position information are additionally defined in interactive
content management information. In addition, where the reproducing
apparatus to reproduce the optical disc is to reproduce an optical disc
including an application requiring a higher performance, the reproducing
apparatus perceives the substitution application existence information.
Accordingly, where the substitution application exists, the reproducing
apparatus reproduces the corresponding substitution application by using
the substitution application position information, and where the
additionally produced substitution application does not exist in the
optical disc, the reproducing apparatus reproduces a resident
substitution application defined in the reproducing apparatus in advance.

[0089]Accordingly, user inconveniences can be avoided. In the above
description, a term "application" is mainly used. However, the present
invention is not limited thereto, and the term "application" may include
any contents to provide interactive functions.

[0090]A number of examples have been described above. Nevertheless, it
will be understood that various modifications may be made. For example,
suitable results may be achieved if the described techniques are
performed in a different order and/or if components in a described
system, architecture, device, or circuit are combined in a different
manner and/or replaced or supplemented by other components or their
equivalents. Accordingly, other implementations are within the scope of
the following claims.